Then please call or email your senators and tell them to support S.2372 to stop this madness. go to http://electedlist.com/ click on your state and it will display your elected federal officials names,website etc.. with easy links for email etc.

Posted: Wed Aug 01, 2012 8:17 am Post subject: letter to your senator, Feel free to use all or parts of it

Senator xxxx,
I am writing to voice my support behind bill S.2372 concerning pedestrian and off-road vehicle (ORV) access to federal park lands along the Outer Banks of North Carolina. I am a strong advocate for protection of the environment and understand the negative impacts of excessive pedestrian and off-road vehicles on the ecological balance; however, having experienced first hand the licensing process and the restricted access to park lands, I am left to conclude that the actions to protect wildlife have become excessive with no viable recourse to modify access rights. Moreover, the licensing process seems to be nothing more than a revenue generator without a clear environmentally related benefit or objective.
According to the NPS access map as of July 20, 2012 (link below), the access for off-road vehicles is about 6 miles in total -- this out of a 50+ miles of coast land that makes up the Cape Hatteras National Park. Thus, just slightly more than 10% of the beach is provided access. This to me is wholly unacceptable level of restriction for ORV use, and a clear violation of the spirit of the consent decree which called for the reasonable restriction to pedestrian and ORV use to protect bird and turtle populations, not the near outright ban that it is now.
Link to NPS access map via Google Earth:
http://www.nps.gov/caha/planyourvisit/upload/20120731BeachAccessMap.kmz
I am a water sports enthusiasts who travels specifically to the Outer Banks to enjoy the combination of wind and waves the Outer Banks uniquely offers. As such, I and many of my friends use ORV's to access beaches which offer the ideal combination of wind and wave conditions. Due the ever shifting winds and beach breaks, our opportunities to enjoy water sports such as windsurfing, kiteboarding, kayaking, stand-up paddleboarding, and surfing require locating and moving to spots along the coast that offer the best and safest conditions. The current ORV restrictions on beach access represents and untenable restriction on our lifestyles, and in some cases, our livelihoods and does impact the greater economy along the Outer Banks.
If I felt there were appropriate avenues of recourse to protest and alter ORV and pedestrian access, I would feel the consent degree to be reasonable; however, that balance does not exist and has resulted in the excessive restrictions that we see today. As a result, I am to conclude that he consent decree should be nullified and senate bill S.2372 enacted to restore access to the Cape Hatteras National Park until such time a more appropriate agreement that better balances environmental concerns with public access to national park lands.
Thank you.

Is the current closure only in effect through the current hatching season or is it indefinite?

Seems from the attached link as if nearly all the identified bird nests have hatched and fledged and they are awaiting the completion of the turtle hatch later in the season along the entire Cape Hatteras National Seashore.

what they post online and reality on the ground is two different things. this is part of the problem.. folks who are not here, look online and conclude that the place is wide open.. what a crock.. that is why i've started to post photos and write about it. we all love the birds as well, one ironic things is that when people are on the beach it keeps the predators away!! the birds do better when we are around, and the people here are the stewards of the beach, we've kept is clean and pristine forever and now some special interest groups are shutting down public access for monetary gain. super sad to see this place become a victim of lobbying scams. we need your help. please email your senator and tell them to support S.2372 to stop this madness. go to http://electedlist.com/ click on your state and it will display your elected federal officials names,website etc.. with easy links for email etc.

Last edited by hatterasjim on Thu Aug 02, 2012 10:39 am; edited 1 time in total

Posted: Thu Aug 02, 2012 10:37 am Post subject: and its just not cape hatteras, they are coming to you

Just imagine your favorite outdoor place..maybe it is a mountain, a stream, a river, a lake, a beach, or a trail. Maybe its a place where your mom or dad introduced you to when your were a kid. A place that you have brought your own children to enjoy or plan on it. A place preserved by our great National Park System. Even as a young kid I realized the greatness and importance of setting aside special recreational places for the enjoyment of all. I was comforted knowing that this place is always going to be like this. “Isn't it great that no one is going to build a condo complex or a go kart track here destroying the landscape and cutting off access.” Back then I was proud that there were organizations like the sierra club and the Audubon out there defending our lands keeping anything “bad” in check, an advocate for the environment. How shocking now to realize that these very groups are the ones exploiting the environment for monetary gain, not some greedy developer! Your Federal Parks are now being closed little by little. Using "Ecological misinformation" to flat out propaganda and lies. The NPS, Sierra Club, and the Audubon Society are systematically shutting down access to your public Federal Parks all over the USA. Week by week they are using your donations to fatten their bank accounts, land grab, hire lawyers, and gain political power. The closing of a Federal Park should be a crime along with the fabrication of photos and so called scientific data they use to do it! --- Our Parks are getting smaller and smaller due to privatized interests and ecological lobbying scams. Its so sad that these once noble organizations have lost their way. Now they are being run by people that are praying on the care and concern of the American people, to make easy money. These folks have found out, that it is a lot easier to sit in your pajamas and type up lies on your computer and generate MILLIONS in donations than to actually go out and make a difference by solving the tough problems, "heck trying to stop someone from killing a whale is dangerous, you might get shot at!! Why bother?" Sarcasm aside...don't think for a moment that this is limited to a few areas. They are coming for your favorite place next, they have to keep the revenue stream going.

that seemed to work here in ny, long island area for the state beaches...

please everyone whether you go to hatteras or not - if you windsurf anywhere, you are subject to being locked out of your launch.

the govt locked us out of an abandoned public deadend street in nyc that nobody uses except windsurfers. it was a perfect little cove to launch.
its been years and no amount of lobbying or other backdoor methods has regained us access.

i sent in my emails to reps...do yours now, instead of emailing somebody else or looking on facebook.

if we all think someone else will take care of it and our one voice wont count,
think again.

its your country,
your sport
your local launch
get involved.
it takes minutes.

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